My Genealogy Hound

Capt. W. W. Thompson, one of the pioneer settlers of Saline County, Ark., and a man whose reputation has not suffered by reason of long residence in this community, was born in Rhea County, East Tenn., in 1828, being the only child of Barbara Thompson. She was a native of Pennsylvania, her birth occurring in 1794, and she could just remember moving to Tennessee when but a child. That State was then a wilderness, inhabited by only a few people. She lived to the age of ninety years. Young Thompson grew to manhood on the home farm, receiving such an education as the subscription schools of Tennessee, his native State, afforded. There he was married in 1848 to Margaret Isabella Ferguson, a native of Tennessee, and a daughter of John and Myra (Cooper) Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson resided in Tennessee all of his life, his father, John Ferguson, having moved to that State from North Carolina, at a very early day. Grandfather Cooper moved from South Carolina to Tennessee, many years ago. He was one of Marion’s soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Capt. Thompson left Tennessee in 1851; crossing to Saline County, Ark., he settled in what is now Shaw Township, where he entered land and improved it, clearing some twenty acres which he then sold and entered eighty acres in Shaw Township; of this he cleared sixty acres, and made that place his home until 1867, when he enlisted, in 1862, in Company B, Twenty-fifth Arkansas Infantry, for twelve months, as orderly-sergeant, after which he re-enlisted for three years or during the war. At the reorganization of his company after the battle of Corinth, he was made first lieutenant, thus serving until after the battle of Murfreesboro, in February, 1863, when he was promoted to captain of his company, a position that he held until the close of the war. Capt. Thompson was in the battles of Richmond, Ky., Murfreesboro, Chickamauga and in all of the engagements of the Georgia campaign, except while in the hospital during sickness caused from exposure. He was paroled in 1865, at Little Rock, and returned to Saline County, again engaging in farming. In 1868 he traded his land for a farm on the river, which he occupied until 1870, also operating a steam-mill, and at that time moved to Benton. During the ten years of his residence there, he took an active part in politics, and was elected sheriff in 1872 on the Democratic ticket, which office he held for four terms, to his own credit and the satisfaction of all concerned. He has also held the positions of junior warden and senior warden in the Masonic lodge, of which he is a member. Besides he belongs to Benton Lodge No. 34, A. F. & A. M., and to Saline Lodge No. 1317, Knights of Honor. In 1880 Capt. Thompson left Benton, moving to his present farm of 300 acres, 100 acres of which are under a high state of cultivation. He in addition has the control of over 300 acres. Capt. Thompson and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They are the parents of seven children: Mary (now Mrs. Stowers), Tennessee Jane (now Mrs. Shoppach, residing nearby), William A. (married and in the county), Richard H. (married and in Texas, where he is engaged in farming), John, Samuel and Nora Lee. They have given their children a good education. Capt. Thompson is practically a self-made man, having gained all that he is worth by his own industry and frugality. His acquaintance is a wide and honored one.